When a conversation between Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant became a viral video before the 2019 NBA All-Star Game, with online sleuths speculating that they were aligning their free-agency plans, which led them to the Brooklyn Nets four months later, Irving neither denied nor confirmed the contents of their discussion.
Instead, Irving went on the defensive.
"Anybody's stories or social media, I'm completely off it," he said. "I just don't have the care for it. It ruins locker rooms, it ruins confidence in people, and it's just a fictitious way of feeling validated in the world.